D'Antoni wanted to play a system that neglected Pau early, but Pau was playing terrible, and I think it's due to injuries mostly.

When Dwight and Pau were healthy, they played effective, however, when the defenses adjust, you need effective perimeter players. When Kobe,Nash, and Blake and Meeks go down, its VERY easy to defend the post.

Let me teach you something though.

Offensively, our advantage lies in KOBE. He is the 2nd or 3rd best offense creator in the entire league and the numbers back that up

I know people don't really get the game, so I won't go into detail, but

I will not sugarcoat a thing. D'Antoni cost us about 5-7 games. Dwight cost us a few. Injuries cost us at least 6, where the personnel was not talented enough to compete with the other roster or the chemistry between the players were nonexistent because some guys NEVEr played together.

If you deny ANY of that, you can't even garner a response from me. KObe actually cost us 2 or 3 games, so you can chalk this season up to, Miami's TIME.

It's too hard for most sports fans to accept, but Jordan had a time, and Shaq had an era, Kobe had his, so lets not be fools here and let history repeat itself with no acknowledgement of what is potentially unfolding.

I didn't say that our failures this season were ONLY on D'Antoni. Dwight struggled, Kobe had a couple games that hurt us, Nash wasn't playing at the efficiency he did in previous years, and above all, injuries just crippled this team.

All that I said is that certain coaches are better fits than others. D'Antoni's prime offense is one that is faster-paced and revolves around the perimeter. In fact, D'Antoni refers to his offense as more outside-in than inside-out.

Kobe is one of the greatest shot-creators of all time, no doubt. Kobe was able to bail this team out more times than should be humanly possible. The only thing is that he shouldn't have had to work as hard as he did with as many minutes.

Now, to D'Antoni's credit, he did adjust his offense to better suit the strengths of this team. He was able to get Pau the ball in deeper position rather than having him play around the perimeter. However, this team was forced to practically run a free-lance offense, so it is somewhat unclear whether these adjustments were D'Antoni's idea or the players.

There are A LOT of random joe Lakers fans. If he doesn't keep this ship a sail, we'll see how much he cares about that.

Despite the random joe Laker fans and people that hate on the internet Lakers games still sold out this season as did each playoff game even when Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock were starting.

That shows you how much people that complain on twitter matter in the grand scheme of things.

As long as we're winning and as long as Staples Center still sells out every game like this season and the post seasoN(that's KNOWING that Kobe isn't going to play) then the twitter people will be but a spoke on the wheel.

That's why no twitter rant or 'media pressure' is going to budge Mitch OR Jim on hiring Phil.

Mitch has said it time and time again "It's about wins and losses" as long as we're still winning, D'antoni is remaining. That's as simple as it gets.

And that's all there is to it.

There is nothing to peer inside or less black and white than that. And there is no grand scheme that is going to bring Phil here.

It's as simple as this.

Mitch will make off-season moves.

If the Lakers start next season losing and losing a lot.

Mitch will fire D'antoni and Phil probably gets the job.

That's the only scenario.

I'm not going to sit back and HOPE we lose just so that happens either. Long as we're winning I don't care who the coach is. All I care about as far as HE goes next season is that he makes adjustments so that we actually are running an offense that suits our players, he has an entire off-season to come up with it and an entire pre-season of trial and error. And that his defensive assistant implements a defense that we can actually see executed.

IF D'antoni does neither, he's probably out of here so then there's nothing to worry about.

But if he does, good for him and the team.

Edited by Majesty, May 10, 2013 - 09:23 PM.

"Bryant had come to rage against the idea that Howard's clownish disposition could overtake the locker room, the Lakers' culture, and had warned Howard that he would never, ever let it happen."

Despite the random joe Laker fans and people that hate on the internet Lakers games still sold out this season as did each playoff game even when Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock were starting.

That shows you how much people that complain on twitter matter in the grand scheme of things.

As long as we're winning and as long as Staples Center still sells out every game like this season and the post seasoN(that's KNOWING that Kobe isn't going to play) then the twitter people will be but a spoke on the wheel.

That's why no twitter rant or 'media pressure' is going to budge Mitch OR Jim on hiring Phil.

Mitch has said it time and time again "It's about wins and losses" as long as we're still winning, D'antoni is remaining. That's as simple as it gets.

And that's all there is to it.

There is nothing to peer inside or less black and white than that. And there is no grand scheme that is going to bring Phil here.

It's as simple as this.

Mitch will make off-season moves.

If the Lakers start next season losing and losing a lot.

Mitch will fire D'antoni and Phil probably gets the job.

That's the only scenario.

I'm not going to sit back and HOPE we lose just so that happens either. Long as we're winning I don't care who the coach is. All I care about as far as HE goes next season is that he makes adjustments so that we actually are running an offense that suits our players, he has an entire off-season to come up with it and an entire pre-season of trial and error. And that his defensive assistant implements a defense that we can actually see executed.

IF D'antoni does neither, he's probably out of here so then there's nothing to worry about.

But if he does, good for him and the team.

So what are you saying the grand scheme is? As long as buss is making money (filling seats) he could care less about winning championships?

We all know why games sold out and it wasn't because the consumers paid for a good product.

I see the Lakers with D'Antoni and then I see the Bulls with Thibodeau. Two teams that have gotten decimated by injuries, but one (hint: the Bulls) playing the defending champs to a near virtual draw. That's despite the fact that half their rotation right now is guys that weren't even supposed to play that much.

Sure, 28-12 is pretty nice, but at the end of the day, one team is sitting at home feeling sorry about themselves, and the other is balling out of their minds trying to upset the champs. What's the difference? It's coaching.

I see the Lakers with D'Antoni and then I see the Bulls with Thibodeau. Two teams that have gotten decimated by injuries, but one (hint: the Bulls) playing the defending champs to a near virtual draw. That's despite the fact that half their rotation right now is guys that weren't even supposed to play that much.

Sure, 28-12 is pretty nice, but at the end of the day, one team is sitting at home feeling sorry about themselves, and the other is balling out of their minds trying to upset the champs. What's the difference? It's coaching.

Thibs is a better coach. But injuries are one issue.

Continuity was another.

And for the Bulls, they were this same gritty team for years, even before Thibs and Rose. Noah is the heart and soul of what that team represents.

Plus the East , kinda sux.

But EC ball doesn't seem to work on the West Coast. For whatever reason.

Anyway, they never LOST D. Rose, and with Nate taking a leap in maturity, they have enough guards.

When you have Duhon, that's not like Nate Robinson. And Dwight with no stamina, Pau with no knees, I look at Chicago with more overall talent. Look at Butler. That's not coaching thats young legs.

We didn't even have Jordan Hill.

28-12. That is impressive. You guys just don't appreciate the entertainment of the NBA, if its not the Lakers dominating.

Despite the random joe Laker fans and people that hate on the internet Lakers games still sold out this season as did each playoff game even when Darius Morris and Andrew Goudelock were starting.

That shows you how much people that complain on twitter matter in the grand scheme of things.

As long as we're winning and as long as Staples Center still sells out every game like this season and the post seasoN(that's KNOWING that Kobe isn't going to play) then the twitter people will be but a spoke on the wheel.

That's why no twitter rant or 'media pressure' is going to budge Mitch OR Jim on hiring Phil.

Mitch has said it time and time again "It's about wins and losses" as long as we're still winning, D'antoni is remaining. That's as simple as it gets.

And that's all there is to it.

There is nothing to peer inside or less black and white than that. And there is no grand scheme that is going to bring Phil here.

It's as simple as this.

Mitch will make off-season moves.

If the Lakers start next season losing and losing a lot.

Mitch will fire D'antoni and Phil probably gets the job.

That's the only scenario.

I'm not going to sit back and HOPE we lose just so that happens either. Long as we're winning I don't care who the coach is. All I care about as far as HE goes next season is that he makes adjustments so that we actually are running an offense that suits our players, he has an entire off-season to come up with it and an entire pre-season of trial and error. And that his defensive assistant implements a defense that we can actually see executed.

IF D'antoni does neither, he's probably out of here so then there's nothing to worry about.

But if he does, good for him and the team.

I pretty much completely agree with everything you have been saying on this topic.

Most people take your stand as supporting D'Antoni when in fact you, me, and few others have swallowed the fact that Mitch and Jim won't fire another coach unless D'Antoni starts losing harshly and a big name coach like Phil is ready to step in immediately.

I don't see them firing D'Antoni and searching for a few weeks for a new coach. Unless Phil or someone like Coach K agrees to come in, they won't fire midseason.

I strongly doubt Dwight will give the ultimatum that many are talking about. Dwight never showed any signs of being against D'Antoni, and actually made few complaints this season, until the end where he gave in to the fact that he was hurt early on.

If that's your premise, then how do you explain MDA still being the head coach?

Maybe some of you watched a different team this season. We won something? What did we win? When has MDA ever won anything?

Team was garbage this season. Not even watchable

I agree, you don't pay the enormous price for the talent on this team to get swept out of the first round. Because MDA won a few games in the regular season by no means justifies keeping him as the coach, he won zero games when it counted the most, not to mention he ran the team into the ground.

Dwight Howard is going to flirt with teams in order to pressure management to fire MDA and hire an actual coach. If our management is smart, they will hire a coach who Dwight endorses. This is the player who is our future.

MDA is nothing but a buffoon. He has a history of winning games, but not once a championship. He will never take this team to the next level. He will never get the best of our players due to his failure to maximize their talents and developing a system that incorporates our player's strengths. He will never lead us to the Finals.